Tragedy
by NekoIllustrations
Summary: A sort of timeline fic of Kanda's past. Differs from my other timeline Itachi fic because I had much more room for creativity.
1. Creation

SPOILER WARNING!! IF YOU HAVE NOT READ CHAPTER 186 OF -MAN DO NOT READ THIS FIC!!!

"Alright, everyone, in three…two…one…!"

Zhu Chan lowered a lever and the fluid in the cylindrical tank in front of him began to drain. He flipped a switch and the tank lowered into a horizontal position. Zhu then motioned to his son, Bak, who was sitting in the corner, holding a clipboard, the teen rose and came to stand by his father's side.

Zhu slid open the glass lid on the tank.

"Take notes on this, Bak, that bastard, Louvellier, will want a complete and, of course, overly-detailed report."

Bak nodded and watched as Zhu pulled a surgical cart closer to the tank. The teen was gifted with the ability of multitasking and was, thus, able to take notes while gazing transfixed and the young boy in the tank.

The boy was in a drugged sleep, his blue-black hair, still soaked from the fluids in the tank, was plastered to his neck. He was small, but muscular. On his chest, directly over his heart, was a strange black tattoo. It looked vaguely like some sort of Kanji but Bak couldn't decipher its meaning. He looked over at his father and noticed he was holding a surgical scalpel. He also noticed that the blade was dangerously close to the boys arm.

"Father, watch out! You'll-!" but it was too late, the scalpel pierced the sleeping boy's arm. A line of crimson blood trickled from the cut and down the side of his skin. Bak stared, at first in appall, then in amazement as the cut healed itself an instant later.

Zhu let out the breath he'd been holding up till now. Success, finally, a success. Central had gotten tired of waiting so they decided that the first successful experiment would be the last. There had been so many failures that Zhu had lost count of the number of synthetic lives that had been lost. However, unlike his subordinates, he didn't resign himself to the potential losses of life and continued to mourn each failed experiment as it was disposed of outside the branch.

This time, this time it has got to work, I can't stand the thought of losing another child. Tentatively, Zhu removed the anesthetic IV from the child. Slowly, the child began to wake. Zhu watch with bated breath as he opened his eyes and sat up. He looked up and Zhu with wide black eyes in an expression of quiet confusion.

"Hello there," Zhu said with a smile. "How do you feel?"

The boy looked at him, "dizzy," he said, faintly, "and," he ran his fingers through his hair, still drench from the tank fluids, "wet."

Zhu chuckled, "don't worry about that, we'll get cleaned up in a moment, and the dizziness is just a side-effect from the anesthesia."

Bak took the boy's hand and helped him to the floor. He was a little unstable on his feet, but that would change once he got used to walking. The teen took him into a room and got him some fresh clothes.

After he'd finished dressing the boy suddenly spoke, "that's pretty."

Bak looked over where the boy was pointing, then became confused. He was pointing at a corner of barren floor. He looked and the boy again, certain he had missed something.

"What is?" he said, kindly.

"That flower in the corner, it's so pretty, but why is it on the floor?"

Bak's heart sank into his stomach, the boy was hallucinating, there was nothing on the floor, yet he was seeing some sort of flower.

He grabbed the boy's hand, "C'mon we need to see Zhu."

This couldn't be a good sign.


	2. Illusions and Hate

Warning: May contain quotes from chapter 186

"Kanda, do you still see the flower?"

The boy, now christened Kanda Yu, nodded, hanging his head in disappointment. He had gone through multiple tests in an attempt to remove the flower, which the poor boy now realized was just a hallucination, from his vision. He was growing more and more frustrated as the tests kept coming and failing, a fact that Zhu had been quick to pick up on.

The old man knelt down in front of Kanda; he noticed that boy's hands were balled into fists and that his shoulders were shaking. He took the child's hands in his own and spoke in a gentle tone.

"I see." Zhu was disappointed, it had been the same with all the others, an illusion that would count down the time they had left. The longest any of them had lasted was a month. They were never even synced to the innocence. Suddenly, a thought, no, it was more of a hope, formed in Zhu's mind. What if…?

"Kanda, by any chance, have any changes occurred in the flower?"

The boy looked at him, confused, he shook his head.

Excellent, there was still hope, "Kanda as soon as you see any changes within the flower, let me know, okay?" then he added, "Let's keep this a secret, just between you and me."

Kanda nodded, silently, it was as if a weight had dropped into the pit of his stomach. He didn't know what the point of these questions was, but one thing had become clear, he was cursed to see the damn lotus for the rest of his life.

Zhu noticed the hurt on the boy's face, "you mustn't dwell on it. It's just an illusion. That flower is only an illusion."

Kanda nodded again, "What does it mean?" his voice was shaking; he was close to losing control of his anger and frustration, "what does that damn lotus mean?"

"Now, now, don't talk like that," Zhu said, gently, "Don't worry, for now, it doesn't mean anyth-…"

"Then what about later?!" Kanda's voice was growing louder, Zhu became glad that they were the only two people in the room, "What about when changes start to occur in the flower, huh?! What about that?!"

Zhu looked down at his hands, unable to meet the angry child's gaze, he knew it would come to this, but he had hoped it wouldn't have come so quickly.

"It means…" Zhu's voice broke. He couldn't do it, he couldn't say what it meant. He'd only spent about two months with this child, but Kanda had become like a grandson to him. The boy was short-tempered, but he'd already developed his own set of boyish quirks, some of which Zhu wasn't sure, he'd grow out of. For example, when Kanda began martial arts training, he excelled quickly by being merciless on all his opponents, a habit he was sure to carry to the battlefield when he joined the exorcists. Another, this quirk was kind of a favorite of Zhu's, was that Kanda refused to let anyone call him by his given name. He said it was belittling and that he wouldn't let anyone make fun of him for it. Thus, if anyone so much as whispered the name, Yu (for, as was already mentioned, that was his given name), they would find themselves experiencing the nine-year-old's formidable death glare. Zhu had seen Bak backing away in fear more than once for making that fatal mistake, he was the only one who hadn't learned his lesson after the first experience.

"Zhu?" Kanda's voice brought him out of his reverie, "What does it mean?"

He looked up, Kanda was glaring at him. Zhu had a feeling that Kanda would never grow out of that habit, either. He shook his head, "It's painful, having to tell you this, Kanda, and I had hoped I could've waited until you were older."

"Just tell me, already, I can handle it."

Zhu looked down at his hands again, "Kanda, to put it simply, you're clock starts ticking when either one or both of two phenomena occur."

"How's that putting it simply? I still don't under-…" Zhu cut him off.

"It means that when either you're regeneration abilities begin to slow or that flower begins to whither, your life force will start to run out and your body will gradually begin to shut down."

Zhu looked up, Kanda was wide-eyed and speechless. The announcement had obviously been a shock.

The door opened with a slam, interrupting them. In strode Inspector Louvellier, head of Central's crow faction and the biggest thorn that currently existed in Zhu's side. Beside the bastard strode Renee Epstein, the young new head of the North America Branch. Zhu rose to greet them, Renee cordially, and Louvellier he greeted grudgingly.

"I heard it was a success" Louvellier said, curtly.

"Yes, well, for the most part." Zhu replied.

"For the most part?"

"Like the others, Kanda's life does have a limit. However, unless he is somehow affected by the innocence, his life will be much longer than the others."

"Well where is it?" Zhu was irked by Louvellier's constant use of the word "it".

"He is right here." Zhu made sure to emphasize the pronoun.

Ignoring him, Louvellier cast his eyes around the room. They only other source of life they detected, besides himself and the branch heads, was a small black-haired boy. He became confused. Where on earth was the second exorcist (this is what the experiments had been called, they were synthetic humans designed to assist the exorcists by being engineered to synchronize with the innocence). His eyes fell on the boy again… surely not!

"What's this, Zhu, Renee? It's only a child!"

"Before we continue this conversation, Louvellier, I'd like to point something out to you." Zhu was on the verge of losing his temper, his usually calm visage contorted in anger, "Even if Kanda was created in a lab, he is still human, not only that, he is a child! So please refrain from treating him like some worthless dog by referring to him as an OBJECT! In other words, use the appropriate pronoun, HE, when referring to him!"

Louvellier was shocked at this outburst, Renee, who always played it safe and never rebelled against her higher-ups, was astonished.

Louvellier finally nodded, "Whatever, the fact still remains that _he _is a child! I expected a ready-to-fight second exorcist when you said success. This BOY is highly unfit to synchronize with the innocence-!"

A stunned silence fell as Louvellier was thrown against the wall from a flying kick delivered to his back. Kanda landed neatly in between Renee and Zhu and launched his most dangerous death-glare and the crumpled form of Louvellier. His shoulders were shaking in obvious rage as he shot another look of pure loathing at the Inspector, still lying on the ground.

"Don't. Ever. Talk. To. Him. Like. That. Again." Kanda said through gritted teeth, "I don't care what happens to the stupid order, but don't ever treat Zhu like that again!"

Louvellier sat up, speechless. Then he turned as he heard Zhu laughing.

Zhu shot him a look of contempt and said, "given that he knocked you down like that, you still think he's unfit to become an exorcist, Inspector?


	3. Sacrifice

AN: this chapter is very short. It's because I had minor surgery today so I can't write my best. I hope you still like it!

(I'm going away for a couple weeks soon, so please don't expect updates after 8/12/09)

Thank you!

*Togaochi = fallen/fallen one. An experiment preformed by the order in the past in an attempt to synchronize blood relatives of exorcists to the innocence (reference episode 53)

* * *

"Central wants the details of the experiment, Zhu."

"Got it."

"Is it true that this method was different from the others, old man?" grumbled Louvellier. However, he quickly apologized for the name after he heard a low growl emit from Zhu's left side. He knew the little brat was clinging to his creator in an effort to protect him. He did want to have to deal with another blow to the spine (not to mention his pride) from the little demon.

Zhu nodded in answer to Louvellier's question, the corner of his mouth twitching into a half-smile at the way Kanda had put the pompous inspector in his place.

"Zhu, would you like me to explain the process through which Kanda was developed?"

"If you wouldn't mind. Come, Kanda, time for training."

Louvellier watched as the boy and Zhu left the room. Once they had done so, he spoke.

"I don't like that brat." He grumbled, "He's a demon."

"Now now, Louvellier," Renee said gently, "be patient, he'll mature.'

"Hmph! Let's hope!"

"Details, sir?"

"Please."

Renee handed him a piece of paper that read as follows:

Experiment #

Name/ Age

Experimentation Method

39

Erik Williams/ 20

Bio engineering (BE)

40

Shawn O'brien/ 27

Bio engineering

41

Cecil Bergner /32

Genetic Mutation (GM)

42

Takahiro Kaien/ 21

Genetic Mutation

43

Fai Lin /19

BE/GM

44

Lolun Castillo/17

Genetic enhancement (GE)

45

Kanda Yu/9

GE/ Corpse-Soul Binding

Forty-five experiments, forty-four losses of life. Louvellier was genuinely shocked at how long this assignment had been forced to continue. He was also confused; Kanda's experimentation method was much different from the others. Corpse-Soul Binding? What the hell was that? The other methods obviously were focused solely on scientific development, but this… this method implied the use of magic. He looked up at Renee and realized that she expected him to ask questions.

"I understand the whole genetic engineering thing but what's this corpse-soul binding method all about?"

"It means we used a horrible and tragic spell to bind an innocence-compatible soul to the corpse of a Japanese boy who was killed in an attack on his home in Nara. When he was resurrected, he had no memories of his life there, not even his name. His family was killed along with him so there's no worry he'll meet up with them and cause trouble by not remembering them. We then kept him in a drugged sleep while we preformed the necessary genetic enhancements in order to turn him into an exorcist, and a string one at that."

"You called the spell horrible and tragic. What did you mean?"

Renee sighed, sadly, "That particular spell came at a cost. In order to bind the soul to Kanda's body we needed human sacrifices."

Louvellier's eyes widened in horror, "Renee, surely you didn't… who did you use?"

Renee cast her eyes on the ground, "The failed experiments. The spell called for forty human sacrifices. The first four experiments died after a few days, so we had the right amount for this method. Don't worry, they agreed, they knew they wouldn't last long. They wanted to be put out of their misery."

"Th-that's horrifying!" Louvellier exclaimed. He meant it, too, this was worse than the experiments that resulted in all those Togaochi*! Human sacrifice was unacceptable! Louvellier would report this to his higher-ups. He knew that this was the last second exorcist experiment but he was also going to make sure that this was the last time such a spell would be used by the Order.


	4. Chapter 4

**Important Update to All Readers**

So, I'm happily settled into college, and working hard to build my major and get through my classes. It is understandable, therefore, that finding time for writing fanfics is a little difficult. Even so, I do have a couple in the works -or reworks. I'm going to write/finish/finalize work for the following series: The Betrayal Knows My Name (because I haven't finished even one version yet), D Gray-Man (because I owe it to myself), Bleach (because I have a fun plot line I'd like to work with, and I've never actually gone very far with writing for Bleach before), and _maybe_ Naruto (if I can keep the idea in my head long enough). As per usual, these will all have some version of my OC Kai, and other OCs will play parts in these fics as well (expect repeat performances from the names Haru, Akira, and Ren). I would like to stress, though, that this is not for lack of creativity, but for lack of energy to create any more new characters, especially when I fear I might bring in OCs from my book. That's right, folks, I'm writing a fantasy novel (I mean it, an actual novel with its own original plot and everything -holy sh*t, right?) and it's taken priority over writing with other people's characters. Still, every author needs a break from her own creations, and I consider working with "stock characters" a good break. That's why I will keep writing fanfiction for now. I do plan to finish each of the aforementioned stories, but updates will be slower, and it will take longer to get them done. All I ask for is your patience, and for you all not to be too hard on my when I hang up the long-term fanfiction hat permanently, which I will do when I finish the fanfics I've promised. I say long-term, though, because I may come back with a few shonen-ai oneshots every once in a while.

The long-term fics I am writing are final drafts of the following already published stories (sorted by series):

_( D Gray-Man)_

In Memoriam

Bound by the Symbol of Kegare

Forced Forbearance

Give Me a Reason

_(Betrayal/Uraboku)_

It's Just a Looking Glass

Where Hell Is a Good Thing

_(Bleach)_

Faded

These are the working titles for the upcoming fics, along with the intended pairings (subject to change):

_(D Gray-Man) _

Life Worth Living- KandaxOC (Maybe, it could end up just a friendship between the two of them).

_(Betrayal/Uraboku) _

Black on Black- LuzexOC (I'm actually really excited for this one)

_(Bleach) _

Security- OCxOC (heterosexual); OCxOC (homosexual) (Another one I'm pumped for)

_(Naruto)_

Fine Line- GaaraxOC (again, I may not write this. The idea isn't fully formed yet and I'm not as invested in the series as I once was).

I've already said it, but I'll reiterate: these are FINAL DRAFTS. If I haven't already completed them, I will NOT be finishing any of the already published stories that the finals are based off of. For that matter, I will not be finishing any other incomplete fics either. I simply don't have the time or inspiration.

As always, I appreciate your support. I won't delete my account, nor will I delete any previously written fics, as they serve as a reminder of how much I've improved as a writer. I hope you all will appreciate the new work coming your way. Nothing makes an author happier than receive feedback on her work. Thank you again, and I hope you're all excited for what's to come.

Feel free to message me with any questions!

~H


	5. Chapter 5

Please go to my account profile and read what's there- IT'S REALLY IMPORTANT.


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